•When Rockstar Spel sought additional time for bağlantı”>Grand Theft Automatiskt 6, Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick reportedly responded, “You’re kidding.” The exchange is detailed in a lengthy Bloomberg report on October 14 about Rockstar and its development of the game.
The company first announced in May 2025 that it was pushing GTA 6 from its original target to May 2026. A few months later, it delayed again to November 2026 — a pair of back-to-back postponements that disappointed many players.
GTA 6 is set for release on November 19 as what Take-Two expects to be the biggest game launch of the decade. When first revealed in December 2023, Rockstar promised a 2025 launch window. Its leaders believed that was achievable, though some developers were less convinced.
As development progressed, Rob Nelson, head of development and co-studio head at Rockstar North, concluded the team needed more time. “You feel a huge pressure and obligation to deliver the highest-quality game in the most aggressive time scale that you can,” Nelson told Bloomberg. “And then you keep evaluating it as you go. And then you have to decide when you get within striking distance of that if it is actually achievable.”
The developers informed Rockstar’s head of publishing, Jennifer Kolbe, who called Zelnick to request more time — a delay he granted. Several months later in 2025, Kolbe had to call again for another postponement.
“I think he said, ‘You’re kidding.’ Please tell me you’re kidding.”
Jennifer Kolbe, Rockstar head of publishing
“But once we talked through why, he got it. And I think we are really lucky that he is as reasonable as he is, because a lot of people would say, ‘You’d just better figure out how to ship it.'”
Zelnick said granting developers more time and resources is usually a “wise investment in time” — allowing a game to “reach the level of perfection it has the ability to reach.” He acknowledged that this does not always happen: “We have been really, really lucky that we have not found ourselves in that place, because that happens to a lot of teams.”
The report comes as GTA 6 continues to draw attention from multiple angles. Leaker Cyberleek announced it would stop releasing full-game content “for now,” while warning of a dead man’s switch should anyone pursue them.
Meanwhile, Rockstar has addressed concerns about the gap between its releases — nearly a decade separated Red Dead Redemption 2 from GTA 6. Separately, reports suggest the PC port may arrive just months after the console launch, though the game is currently announced only for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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